Product designers
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- georgesIII
following the authorship thread,
Lets say you're about to put a new product on the market and you know that once you've spent your hard earn saving commercializing it,
you will get ripped by other brands.I've approached the local patent office and they told me that even if I start the process tomorrow, there will be a period going from 1 to 3 years before I get the patent, if I get it.
How do you protect yourself from getting ripped?
- georgesIII0
What I ultimately meant to say is,
Is there a way that I can produce this object while still retain some kinda authorship without a patent?
- detritus0
Your conflating a design registration with a patent - they're very different things.
Eurozone, especially France and Italy are usually sticklers about this sort of thing (witness gov't actions against knock-off luxury goods sellers). China, on the other hand, doesn't give a fuck.
So, in answer to your question - how do you prtoect yourself? You continue making a better product than everyone else and you back it up with service and values.
I'd like to think the future is all about the race to the top..
- 'YOUR'?!
FFS.detritus - don't worry,
haven't seen a grammar nazi in here for years nowgeorgesIII - I *am* that grammar nazi..detritus
- im with detritus, you see the misuse of 'Your' and 'You're' a lot, its slightly irritating.Hombre_Lobo
- Fashion can not be copyright ptotected and or have a patent.
http://www.ted.com/t…utopian - Wait a second...I'M the grammar Nazi, and don't you forget it!monospaced
- but.. who is the grammar fuhrergeorgesIII
- I am, you pig dogs.MrT
- 'YOUR'?!
- georgesIII0
Yep sorry, I was talking about a design registration,
I live in italy where they're are getting really strict on it, but it is mainly a facade because most of the high luxury good are still made by chinese people living in Italy.One if the satisfaction I guess will be that I'll be able to put a "made in Italy" tag on it
- Most of my clients from Italy have already shift to Chinese manufacturers.sebastianfrench
- boom0
the process for getting patents is horribly inefficient and ineffective. i've been talking with a patent attorney over the last month and walked away pretty discouraged.
If you put your idea out in public you have 1 year to file a provisional patent on it. The provisional patent simply states when you had the idea and what the idea was. This might be helpful if someone else came up with the idea as well, (it only states that you had the idea before they did) but it holds little to no weight if you wanted to sue some for stealing the idea from you. In the US (at least) you get that 1 year (after getting the provisional patent, or making it public) to file for a real patent. filing for the provisional patent makes the idea accessible to anyone- making it 'public'. You can file for a utility patent (protects function/mechanics) or design patent (protects the look) at any time but is much more pricey and complicated.
Heres where patents are somewhat stupid: creative people do not have a hard time changing the look or function of your idea to make it theirs. its usually fairly easy to modify it slightly and work around patent claims. and even if you found someone that copied you, you'd really (really) have to pay through the nose to protect it.
unfortunately you have to file a patent in every country that you would sell the idea in. there is also such thing as an international patent, but i don't know much about how it works..
James Dyson gives a good talk about how he came up with and protected his cyclonic vacuum cleaner patent (and other ideas hes had)
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/36…
cheers,
- georgesIII0
bump,
screw it then, I'll just go ahead, do it and hope I won't be ripped heavily.
- ribit0
You can always sue them later for trade dress infringement, no need to register or patent.
- lowimpakt0
If you don't mind me asking, how have you come to the point that you have a patentable product and you are unsure about design registrations or IP?
I am worried you are going to blow your life savings away..
Is there a local design support service? or business mentor programme that you can get help from?
- georgesIII0
I had this stupid Eureka moment while commuting home from work,
I took 3 months to build a viable prototype,
it is a fashion item thus has no movable parts and can be reproduced by anyone with some basic sewing skills yet nobody thought of it before.
I'm getting help from two friends of mine who have graduated in this area of work and both adviced me to register it,
only problem are the huge waiting time to actually get the idea registered...